Islamic State loses more territory

Stuff reports:

US-backed militias say they have defeated Islamic State in its former capital Raqqa, raising their flags over the jihadist group’s last footholds in the city on Tuesday (local time) after a four-month battle.

The fighting was over but the alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias was clearing the stadium of mines and any remaining militants, said Rojda Felat, commander of the Raqqa campaign for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). …

Islamic State has lost most of its territory in Syria and Iraq this year, including its most prized possession, Mosul. In Syria, it has been forced back into a strip of the Euphrates valley and surrounding desert.

The SDF, backed by a US-led international alliance, has been fighting since June to take the city Islamic State used to plan attacks abroad.

Defeating Islamic State won’t mean the end of Islamist terrorism. But it will be a significant achievement to rid them of a territory.